By ROBIN SHANNON

Staff Reporter

LAPLACE – The nursing staff and surgical personnel from River Parishes Hospital in LaPlace recently staged a fire drill and evacuation of one of the hospital’s operating rooms to test safety procedures at the medical facility.

Diane Abbondante, director of surgical services, said hospitals are required to run at least two drills where facilities are evacuated so that nurses and staff can experience different scenarios and define weaknesses. Abbondante said the most recent drill focused on the evacuation of operating room three and involved the moving of two “patients” confined to beds. She said it took the staff less than five minutes to evacuate from the operating room to a safe location in the back parking area of the hospital.

Tiffanie Bourgeois, surgical services nurse, organized the drill and created the scenarios. She said the staff is still learning and trying to understand what hospital resources may be available in an emergency. She said her staff responded well to the drill.

Bourgeois said that the operating rooms at River Parishes Hospital have never experienced a fire, but said that there are at least 100 fires recorded per year at hospitals nationwide.

“We were very pleased with the results of the drill and happy to know that everyone knew their roles,” Bourgeois said. “Our staff has shown that they are ready for any emergency situation.”